Traditional stringed musical instruments emit vibrations that are produced by striking or strumming taut strings. Guitars, violins, harps, lutes and an assortment of other stringed instruments utilize the manual stroking or strumming of strings with a hand, pick or bow to impart vibrations that are amplified to produce music. Stringed musical instruments vary the placement of the strings, gauge of the strings, and the orientation of the strings to impart unique sounds. There is always a desire to explore the creative bounds of music, and to find new and inventive ways to produce music.
The pursuit of unique and alternative music has resulted in aeolian harps and similar instruments that utilize the concept of imparting mechanical energy to strings to produce vibration and sounds. This is similar to traditional stringed musical instruments, but the mechanical energy is derived from wind or another natural source. Aeolian harps produce sound that is random, depending on the strength of the wind passing over the strings, and can range from a barely audible hum to a loud scream. Aeolian harps were popular in the Romantic period and are often located in bell towers and hilltops to capitalize on ample wind supply at those locations.
Modern artist have explored the bounds of the aeolian harp concept by using water to impart mechanical energy, however, all these attempts are limited by the inability to derive a way to control the mechanical energy imparted on the strings. Thus previous attempts have fallen short of producing an instrument that is capable of being controlled by a user to produce music rather than random sounds that are chaotically produced by natural elements striking the strings.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.